New Graphic Novels for August

This month we have a wonderful selection of new graphic novels that covers many genres. From mystery to science fiction, fantasy to thrilling suspense, and of course several first volumes of new series. All this and the typically brilliant variation in art work, provides a reading pleasure for all graphic novel enthusiasts.

Elias the cursed / Sylviane Corgiat [writer] & Corrado Mastantuono [artist].
“Fallen king Elias is on a quest to reclaim the face that was stolen from him by the mighty sorcerer Melchior. With the help of an unlikely gang, of all fantastical shapes and sizes, and amidst magic both good and evil, Elias The Cursed will attempt to save his face, and perhaps his soul.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

Laid waste / Julia Gfrörer.
“In a plague-ravaged medieval city, survival is a harsher fate than death. As corpses accumulate around her, Agnes, a young widow possessed of supernatural strength, must weigh her obligations to the dead and dying against her desire to protect what little remains. Laid Waste is a graphic novella about love and kindness among vermin in the putrid miasma at the end of the world.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

By the numbers / Laurent Rullier, writer ; Stanislas Barthélémy, artist.
“The misadventures of Victor Levallois, a timid accountant that gets pulled into a life of danger. It all starts in 1948 when Victor is entrusted with an unusual errand: to deliver a suitcase to the port of Marseilles. But, when the suitcase is stolen, Victor finds himself bound for Saigon and the decadence, intrigue and ‘adventure’ of a colonial war.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

Clear blue tomorrows / Meyer, Gazzotti, Vehlmann.
“In the future, the entire population is under a de facto dictatorship because of cerebral implants invented by one F.G. Wilson. Nolan Ska, an engineer, manages to travel back in time, with the intention of changing history by encouraging Wilson’s first career as a novelist. But the man who will eventually become a seemingly immortal despot turns out to be a poor writer, and it will be up to Nolan to use his own memories to be his ghost writer.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

The abominable Mr. Seabrook / Joe Ollmann.
“In the early twentieth century, travel writing represented the desire for the expanding bourgeoisie to experience the exotic cultures of the world past their immediate surroundings. Journalist William Buehler Seabrook was emblematic of this trend-participating in voodoo ceremonies, riding camels cross the Sahara desert, communing with cannibals and most notably, popularizing the term “zombie” in the West. He had a list of bestselling books, but of course, there was a dark side. Seabrook was a barely functioning alcoholic who was deeply obsessed with bondage and the so-called mystical properties of pain and degradation. What led the popular and vivid writer to such a sad state? Cartoonist Joe Ollmann spent seven years researching Seabrook’s life, accessing long neglected archives in order to piece together the peripatetic life of a forgotten American writer.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

The Spire / written by Simon Spurrier ; illustrated by Jeff Stokely.
“The Spire is a mountain of metal and stone, a vast city that rises out of the middle of the radioactive desert. Filled with twisting tunnels, grinding elevators, and ancient machinery, it is home to over a million human and non-human residents. Sha, the last of the species known as the Medusi, is responsible for keeping the hodgepodge of forgotten technology and new biology safe as Commander of the City Watch. But when a string of grisly murders are committed just as a new Baroness of the Spire is about to be sworn in, Sha will have to find the killer and bring that individual to justice.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

Balkans arena / Philippe Thirault [writer] & Jorge Miguel [artist] ; Mercedes Claire Gilliom, translator.
“When widowed former soldier Frank Sokol returns to his native Croatia with his Canadian-born son, Ben, he must face his estranged family and the ghosts of the civil war. When 11-year old Ben is kidnapped by the local mafia and forced into the underground world of illegal online cage-fighting, Frank will stop at nothing to get him back. But the cost may be even higher than he’s willing to pay, and his son could be changed forever.” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)